Enhancing climate resilience in island communities: comparing urban and rural resilience using an asset-based approach in Hawaiʻi

Abstract As climate change accelerates disaster risks in Hawaiʻi, strengthening community resilience has become increasingly urgent. This study examines how physical, human, and social assets are perceived in relation to resilience in urban and rural settings, using a customized Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) framework. It asks how asset availability and perceived importance differ across contexts and what these differences imply for resilience planning. The study analyzes survey data from Oʻahu’s Primary Urban Center and the rural district of Koʻolauloa. It evaluates four core resilience elements, community networks and relationships, teamwork and leadership, information and communications, and training and education, using comparative statistical analysis to assess differences in asset availability and perceived importance across urban and rural contexts. The results reveal significant differences in both the availability of assets and their perceived importance. Urban respondents report greater access to infrastructure-oriented physical assets, while rural respondents consistently assign higher importance to physical, human, and social assets across all resilience dimensions. These patterns suggest differences in perceived reliance on community assets, with rural communities placing greater emphasis on locally embedded resources and urban communities relying more on formal infrastructure and institutional systems. The findings highlight the importance of context-sensitive, asset-based approaches to resilience planning. Rather than applying uniform strategies, resilience efforts should consider how communities perceive, prioritize, and mobilize available resources. This study demonstrates how the ABCD framework can serve as an analytical lens for understanding variations in asset-based resilience across urban and rural contexts, with implications for community-centered planning and resilience hub development.